1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a computer implemented method, system, and computer usable program code for enabling complete viewing of content for selected programming.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, most cable, satellite, and fiber optic television service providers have the ability to offer several hundred channels of programming for a user to select from. A recent study of television viewing in the United States and Canada indicates that 87% of households subscribe to a programming service, such as a cable, satellite, or fiber optic television programming service, and that the average household receives approximately 100 channels of programming. As a result, when a program finishes, only a limited amount of time exists for the viewer to enable the online channel guide, review all the available program channels, and then select a desired program for viewing without missing the beginning of the selected program. This is particularly troublesome when the viewer selects one of the many popular law or medical dramas where the initial few minutes of the show are critical to the entire plot and the remainder of the show.
One possible solution to this problem is for a subscribing household to receive this vast amount of television programming through a digital video recorder (DVR), such as, for example, TiVo®. A DVR is a device that records video data in a digital format to a disk drive or other storage medium and then plays back the recorded video data from the disk drive to a television. However, in current DVRs, the inbound data stream from the programming service provider is fed into a tuner or a set of tuners. Based on the channel selected on each tuner within the DVR, a subset of the data stream corresponding to the selected channel is stored on the DVR and/or displayed on a television as a program. The rest of the data stream is ignored.
Presently, a DVR cannot record more channels than the number of tuners installed within the DVR. Typically, tuners are bulky by modern electronics standards and are relatively expensive. In addition, if a viewer is watching channel 001 on a television using a current DVR and browsed the on-screen television guide before finally selecting channel 100 to watch, any portion of the program on channel 100 that has already aired cannot be retrieved by a current DVR because the program is viewed through the tuner as a live data stream.
Furthermore, many channels do not start and end programs on the hour or half hour. For example, a viewer may be watching a program that ends at 12:05 p.m. on one channel, but the viewer may also want to watch a program that starts at 12:00 p.m. on another channel. Consequently, the viewer must choose to miss either the last five minutes of one program or the first five minutes of the other program. If the viewer chooses to miss the beginning of the other program, there is no way for the viewer to retrieve the content of the program that was missed.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a computer implemented method, system, and computer usable program code for enhancing DVR functionality so that the beginning of each live program is available for some period of time after the program starts to air.